Thursday 13 June 2013

So long Kentucky.......

Just when Ii thought we'd done all the good stuff on the way to Chicago, along comes Kankakee, Illinois. Have you ever heard of this place? I hadn't.
Trip Advisor listed a Frank Lloyd Wright building, The Bradley House, as an attraction.
I learnt about this wonderful architect 30 years ago when I was starting my career as an interior designer. I have tried to follow his approach to practical but decorative homes ever since. I'm a real fan of FLW so we chose to stay over.
We arrived mid afternoon on Tuesday expecting to be able to pay our entrance and look through. Uh uh! The house was only open on the weekends but there was a phone number on the sign. A pleading call to the head of the FLW organisation in Kankakee worked and within minutes the door was opened and we were treated to a special tour.
Lucky us, we were told it was because we'd come such a long way.
Too true, 30 hours in a plane, three days in a train and 2 weeks driving Northward.
No photos of the interior but it's ok I will never forget it.
Even the little jetty on the river featured the FLW style.
Then last night we were walking to dinner and discussing whether to stay an extra night and the bloke picked up this brochure. "Here" he said, "you'd like this."
Well, that certainly made up my mind........
I love QUILTS
I love BARNS
So today we started off straight after breakky, trying to do a two day tour in one day.
50 barns on the list.......some quite close and some down long rutted roads.
Each quilt is 8 feet square and painted by the barn owners.
Are you bored yet? The bloke was!
(This rustic barn with the double wedding ring is my favourite.)
He drove, I navigated but by 2 pm even I was getting tired of climbing out of the car, waving our thanks to any barn owners we saw and fiddling with the GPS.
( I love the draped effect painted on this one)
The bloke was getting good at stopping in just the right spot for me to angle the camera out the window.
But eventually by 4pm I gave in and let him drive back to the motel for a snooze.
I think I owe him a few more car Museums now to make up for all the quilts we saw today.
Marriage is a matter of comprimise................
PS. We got to 37 barns with quilts today but I also took photos of lots of other lovely barns that needed quilts!
I wonder if Barn Quilts would take off in Dongara.!

7 comments:

Bev C said...

Hello Sue,

What a treat to have your own tour. I loved the windows in that building. Of course the shearing sheds in Dongara need a quilt on them. Happy travelling. Hope you enjoy the car museum's.
Bev.

Fiona said...

quilts on barns is such a fantastic idea...
Hugz

Gene Black said...

I think the first I ever heard of Kankakee was in a song "City of New Orleans" ---"and the train pulls out of Kankakee and rolls along past houses, farms and fields..."
However, later I heard of it - a girl I went to college with was from there. How cool that you got to see all the barn quilts.
I would love to visit some of the FLW houses. Thanks for the peeks into them.

Diane-crewe said...

not bored... just facinated xx

Maria said...

The Quilt Barns were well worth seeing..
Quilt Barns Here ???? What about Quilt SHEDS..... you could come and paint one on the Bedwarmers....

Queen Of The Armchair aka Dzintra Stitcheries said...

Hi Sue...catching up here as we have been away...Barn Quilts, what a great idea...they would work anywhere I think. And Paducah...you lucky duck!

Jaye said...

Barns and quilts are becoming very popular in many states...if you get to Michigan, there is a whole "Barn Trail" there also..